The Federal Reserve: Privately Owned, Publicly Funded, Constitutionally Questionable
It is no more federal than Federal Express. It controls the world's reserve currency. It has never been audited.
The Federal Reserve was created at a secret meeting on Jekyll Island, Georgia, in November 1910 by representatives of the Rockefellers, Morgans, Rothschilds, Warburgs, and Kuhn-Loebs - the seven most powerful banking interests of the era. The bill was passed by Congress on December 23, 1913, while most members were home for Christmas.
The Federal Reserve System is a private corporation owned by its member banks. Its profits are notionally returned to the Treasury after expenses, but the Fed sets its own expenses. It has never undergone a complete audit. The 2010 partial audit (forced by Ron Paul) revealed $16 trillion in undisclosed loans to foreign banks during the 2008 crisis.
The Federal Reserve creates U.S. dollars from nothing. It loans them to the U.S. government with interest. The interest is paid by you. The dollar has lost 96% of its purchasing power since the Fed was founded. This is not a bug.
JFK signed Executive Order 11110 in June 1963 authorizing the Treasury to issue silver-backed certificates - a direct challenge to Federal Reserve note monopoly. He was killed five months later. The order was rescinded.